


Something New

by lar_laughs



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (2012), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Awkward Conversations, Gen, Post Movie, flirtation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-20
Updated: 2013-01-20
Packaged: 2017-11-26 03:59:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/646323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lar_laughs/pseuds/lar_laughs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She's not sure where she belongs, now that more aliens have fallen from the sky.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Something New

**Author's Note:**

> written for _downbythebay_4_ at _avengers_land_ 's Stark Expo - Anything having to do with what Darcy, Betty, Pepper, etc. were up to during the Avengers.

“So, how’s the weather?” Darcy cradled the phone between cheek and shoulder as she attempted to fold her laundry for the first time in... well, since childhood, really. It was a testament to just how bored she was that she was doing household chores. Without Jane in the immediate area, her life had proven to be mundane and slow.

“About the same.”

“Same as what? You’ve got to give me details, Jane. Is it snowing in Tromso? Raining? Hot? Cold? Give me something.”

Jane let out an exasperated sigh that was obvious even over the staticky connection but Darcy wasn’t going to let her off the hook. The least the astrophysicist could have done was invite her assistant along to Norway. It was rapidly becoming more and more obvious that Darcy never got to do anything fun.

“It’s... sunny. And colder than New Mexico. I haven’t been outside much. There’s so much to get used to around here. It’s different than being with just you and Erik.”

“That’s because I’m just awesome. There’s not many people like me in this world.”

“Ah, is that what it is?” Jane laughed and, for the first time, Darcy didn’t feel like she had been left behind, both physically and mentally. “Tell me how the weather is in New Mexico.”

Darcy paused, trying to think how to explain the last twenty-four hours to her friend. “Well, I’m not in New Mexico at the moment.”

“Did you go to Las Vegas? I told you not to head for the casinos as soon as I turned my back.”

“No, not Las Vegas either. I’m in New York.”

“New... York?”

“You’re going to be gone for a month. At least!” And suddenly the conversation was back to awkward as Darcy struggled not to turn this into an uncomfortable accusation about being left behind. This time, she didn’t try to laugh off her irritation. “And I don’t have a job without you so it was either take them up on the offer or sit around an empty campus with nothing to do.”

“I left you-”

“I’m not going to spend the entire summer filing paperwork, Jane.” Now she was yelling and that wasn’t helpful. It would be better if she just stopped the conversation before she had to apologize for anything she said or did. “Look, I have to go. I’ll call you later.”

“Or I’ll call you.”

“Right.” Darcy mumbled something that might have been a good-bye as she let the cellphone drop onto the desk next to her laptop. Telling Jane that she was in New York was a lot like saying the Statue of Liberty was tall. Yes, that described one aspect of the landmark, but the adjective didn’t even cover the basics. Now, as she stared out the window at the statue out in the harbor, she wondered if she’d ever get a chance to talk to Jane about what she was doing in New York.

It had seemed fun at first, the whole idea of secrecy. Really, who was she going to tell that she’d been given a special assignment at SHIELD headquarters? No one would care. No one but Jane, who was wrapped up in whatever was in Norway, and Erik, who, truth be told, they hadn’t heard from in nearly a month.

Something inside Darcy felt very cold and tight and, if she’d bothered to poke at it, she might be tempted to admit that she was lonely. Had been lonely since they found the hammer in the desert. 

Instead of dealing with the kind of emotion that would make her fall into deep introspection, Darcy grabbed for her iPod and a water bottle. She’d discovered a shadowy gym in the lower regions of the building, a place that looked like it was out of time compared to the rest of the chrome and glass. There’d been a guy working out that first time. He was the kind of man to instill a desire to work out even in a girl who considered running late to be a form of exercise. With any luck, he’d be there again.

***  
It was hard to get away from the television coverage of the aliens in New York. Darcy made sure to keep tabs on Thor so she could tell Jane all about his part in things (as if she wouldn’t be glued to a TV set, even over there in the Arctic Circle) but she also found herself staring at Captain America with a sort of awe.

“That’s my Workout Guy,” she’d whispered to no one in particular when he’d lost his mask in the midst of the fighting. Everything got a little fuzzy after that when she tried to gain some perspective instead of just gaping at the star in the middle of his chest. People were in danger but they were getting help from Captain America (and some other guys that she’d sort of stopped noticing).

People were always in danger. This wasn’t like New Mexico where she could put her head down and pretend there wasn’t anything outside of her little sphere of influence. The whole reason she was here was to help. Well, if she was honest with herself, she knew that SHIELD had decided to keep her close so she didn’t slide off the grid with her sudden knowledge of aliens, but it was impossible to watch everything that was happening without feeling a deep desire to do something to help others, herself.

***  
“Have you ever had shawarma?” 

Darcy tried to pretend that she hadn’t come to the gym every hour since the battle was considered officially over. She’d played it as cool as she could manage when she’d seen Steve punching at the bag with slightly less vigor than he’d had only a few days ago.

“Shawarma?” As she went through the list of things that shawarma could be, she was also trying to figure out why he was asking her the question when all they’d really discussed before was music (he had no real thoughts about anything but seemed to enjoy her rants and raves) and black and white movies. “I doubt it. Is it... good?”

“It’s different than anything I’m used to. Of course, most things are these days.” He glanced over at her quickly before turning his attention back to the punching bag. It made her wonder if he did actually care what she thought. That was a true first. “I was just wondering if it was something that I should know more about. Is it something that matters.”

She stopped pedaling gradually, having done her fifteen minutes so that it looked like she’d really had a reason for coming today. When the pedals stopped spinning, she slid off the bike and walked over to lean against the wall in his line of sight. “Right now, you know one hundred percent more about it than I do. That’s something different.”

There was a grin that he was trying to hide behind the hand that was up near his face. Even though Darcy saw it, she didn’t acknowledge it. It was so much nicer just watching him fight the sudden burst of happiness that only had the slightest edge of smugness.

“Have you ever taken a trip across the country?”

It was nearly impossible to follow his line of reasoning today but that was odd only in that he was the one leading the conversation, not following after whatever path she decided to take. All she could do was answer him honestly and hope that she was offering up the right answers.

“Only by plane. That’s been pretty fun. I’ve taken more flights in the last year than the twenty-two years before this. I’ve become sort of addicted to airline peanuts. They taste better up in the clouds.”

He looked slightly uncomfortable as he went back to punching the bag in earnest. “I wouldn’t know about that. They didn’t have peanuts on any of the flights I ever took. Just HYDRA weapons.”

“Right.” Now it was her turn to look uncomfortable. “Guess flying wouldn’t be the most fun for you.”

“I was just thinking of taking a trip. Stark mentioned letting me use a bike.”

“Bike? As in motorcycle?” When he nodded, she made a noise of appreciation. “That’s hot, Steve. Girls will be panting after you wherever you go.”

“Some things never change,” he murmured.

Darcy wasn’t sure where to take this conversation but it wasn’t hers to command so she stood as still as she could while he took a few more shots at the bag. When he turned to her, his eyes more piercing than she was comfortable with, she smiled.

“You want to come with me?”

“I don’t... know how to drive a bike.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she was embarrassed to have actually said them but there was nothing she could do now to take it back.

He must have caught some of what she was feeling because he just shrugged it off. “I was thinking I could drive and you could, well, I don’t know the right term for it.”

While she did think about giving him the more crass term, Darcy thought better of it at the very last minute. There was something in his smile that said that he was well aware of the term but hadn’t said it out of consideration for his strange idea of respect for her as a woman. It was that fact alone, the way he took the time to think through his words before saying him, that Darcy liked the most about Steve Rogers. Yes, there were the arms that she could see and the chest that she couldn’t but, for once, her attraction wasn’t purely physical. She liked the way she felt when she was around him.

In the pause during which she began silently listing all the reasons she should back away slowly from this man, he rephrased the question. “I have some where I need to be in an hour but I’m planning on taking off after that. I would really like to have you along on this trip. If, that is, you think you might find it enjoyable.”

“A tour of America with the Captain, himself? Do I get to pick the music?”

He gave her that smile again, the one overflowing with laughter but he wasn’t sure if he could share it. “Only if I get to pick where we stop for meals.”

Darcy held out her hand. “Deal.”


End file.
